One of Buffalo's newest pieces for their 3-4 defensive front, nose tackle Torell Troup, is expected to play a significant role as a rookie. Naturally reporting to camp on time with contract in hand was important to him and the Bills. It took until the late hours of Wednesday, but Troup signed just before midnight.
The second-round draft choice signed his contract at One Bills Drive in Orchard Park before heading out immediately for training camp at St. John Fisher in the middle of the night. Troup will however, beat the 7 am Thursday deadline to report to camp and is expected to participate in the team's first training camp practice, which is scheduled for 3 pm Thursday.
It's anticipated that Troup will play a complementary role to veteran starter Kyle Williams at the nose after a college career that included taking on double teams on a regular basis at Central Florida, where he was a three-year starter.
"He is a classic nose," said Nix. "He played a lot of snaps every game. He's strong, he can beat the double team. You know with those guys, they have to beat double teams so your linebackers have a chance. That's what he's been doing. He hustles to the ball. He's a great kid. He's one of those guys that wants to be good and plays like he wants to be good."
Troup worked with the second team defense at the nose through the course of the spring practices while Williams worked with the starting unit. And while the new defensive scheme gives the nose tackle a fair share of different responsibilities, Troup is looking to keep it simple at the outset.
"For the nose tackle there are a lot of things you have to do, but you have to anchor the middle," he said. "So I try not to think about a lot of the stuff, I just try to remember that I'm the anchor of the defense."
Buffalo's signing of Troup leaves top pick C.J. Spiller as the only unsigned rookie in the team's 2010 draft class.
